


The Wasteland Bestiary

by SlipperySkell



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Deathclaws, Mirelurks, MoleRats - Freeform, New Vegas, Nukaworld, Radscorpions, The Commonwealth, Yao Guai, gatorclaws, more or less just me expanding on what's been given to us already, stingwings, the mojave wasteland, these are all just my own hot takes so this is natch pretty canon divergent
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:27:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 747
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21960919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlipperySkell/pseuds/SlipperySkell
Summary: A collection of entries on wasteland wildlife, be them in game, in the concept art book, or of my own creation entirely. These are all just my own takes on them, their behaviors, appearance, etc. More as an archive for those who need or want context to some of the animals featured in Ashes or are looking for inspiration for their own fallout things.
Kudos: 5





	The Wasteland Bestiary

The molerats of the fallout universe are an incredibly versatile and scrappy bunch. Around the size of a small to medium dog, they’re certainly not the largest creature you’ll come across in your travels, but they have quite the presence throughout the Commonwealth. Their colonies can reach populations anywhere as small as 20 members, to as large as 300 members. The leader of the Pack, Mason, as well as the rest of his gang, all work to care for a mega colony in Nuka-World, whose territory takes up the entire underground area of the park and then some. Most wild colonies don’t grow anywhere near this size, however. 

Molerats are omnivorous, and often feed on low growing vegetation, grasses, large insects such as radroaches, ants, young radscorpions, bloodworms, and even carcasses, should there be any near their many burrow entrances. Select groups of workers and soldiers will come out with the sole purpose of feeding on anything they can get their mouths on, before retreating back into their burrows and depositing their food for the other members of their colony to feed on, in the form of fecal matter. Due to their diet, and how their bodies go about processing what they eat, molerats do not need to drink water. This gives them another advantage, as they will not need to worry about keeping their burrows near a source of water. They generally will burrow in dryer, sandier climates, though some select burrows have been found in more muddy environments, and even in the ruins of Boston city! Their jaws are strong enough to chew through solid concrete, so it isn’t be entirely unheard of to see them burrowing their way into the basements of buildings, old vaults, bunkers, and other, more artificial places such as that. Places like these very seldom work as main burrow areas, but as entrances to brood rooms, places to store food, or carcass dumps. 

Their natural predators include adult radscorpions, stingwings, wild dogs, younger deathclaws, and just about anything else that can catch one outside before it can make it back to the safety of its burrow. 

They’re generally nocturnal animals, though sometimes groups will emerge in the early morning and evening to feed. Not unlike ants, molerats have colonies with soldiers and workers. When workers come out to eat, the larger headed, cumbersome soldiers will follow suit, and keep watch for predators. Should a predator alert these soldiers, they will call for the workers to rush back into the holes, before backing into them and using their large heads and gnashing teeth to block the predator from getting inside. 

Molerat colonies generally have one queen and one dominant male at its head. Molerat queens are significantly larger than workers or even soldiers, their spines having grown extra vertebrae and even, in some cases, extra limbs. They have no specific breeding season, and will have up to five broods all year round. These broods are anywhere from three to twelve pups, though some can be upwards of thirty. These pups grow quickly, and can eat solid foods as early as two weeks of age, and at three to four weeks, they’re able to perform working tasks. Molerats also have an incredibly long lifespan - some live upwards of 20 years!

Because of their voracious diet and unusual resistances to acids and capsaicin - the chemical that makes things spicy - people have been able to utilize them in various ways. With the right training, farmers can raise mini broods and use them as pest control against the likes of radroaches, as the equally hardy bugs can and will lay ruin to many crops. Molerats cannot feel capsaicin on or in them, which allows for farmers or other settlers to strap the likes of capsaicin bombs on their bodies to ward off would be intruders. Some raider gangs have been known to strap actual bombs, land mines, and other explosives on them as well as a means of defense. 

Molerats are also the most vocal of all rodent species, with over 18 different vocalizations each meaning different things. Some farmers have attempted to use them as small shepherd animals for things such as chickens and even small herds of sheep, though whether this has proven a success or failure remains unknown. 

Molerats are some of the hardiest animals the wastelands of America have to offer, and while they have no reason or will to harm people, they are still a force to be reckoned with.

**Author's Note:**

> I'M NOT DEAD!!! I LIVE!!!!! i am so sorry for being inactive for so long!!! i had a surgery, i was busy with work, and now im in college!!! so my life is a little bit crazy, and i was kinda burnt out on writing Ashes for a while. So, to make up for lost time, I'm starting to work on this! 
> 
> And, oh boy oh boy, speaking of Ashes, it's getting reworked! Again! I've come to realize making huge multichapter fics like the one i'm doing are really hard for me to do, so I'm thinking of just making it all one shots/drabbles so i can still actually get decent content out to you readers a bit more consistently. Or at least as consistently as i can while i'm still in college, haha. 
> 
> So, like the first iteration of Ashes, the chapters i had been working on in the past will be moved to Sy drabbles. From then on, it'll be writings from various parts of the storyline, from multiple different perspectives, basically with whoever/whenever/wherever in the story i'm feeling like writing. Will it be reordered when it's done (which could be a while because Sy's story is a heckin long boi) so that it's in chronological order? More than likely, yes. But until then, it's gonna be a bit all over the place as everything is written out. I do understand this might be a bit of a confusing setup for ya'll to read/interpret, but for the sake of my own want to write this gorl's story, it's just gonna be how it's gonna be. I do still hope you guys look forward to what I have in store. I also will be starting skyrim drabbles as well, featuring more of my own characters, as well as some drabbles and things as i practice writing my favorite gremlin jester, Cicero!
> 
> Anyway, apologies for the text block, haha. I hope you all enjoy this new little collection, and all the writings that will come in the near future! <3


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